There’s a classic saying that you might hear from time to time - ‘An Englishman’s home is his castle’.
Not everybody in 2019 is able to live in an actual castle unfortunately. But taking pride in your home space and keeping it fit for a king or queen is not a bad motto to try to adhere to.
But are us Brits actually keeping our houses in order? Are we taking the kind of pride that motto suggests we should be?
Vytronix has done some digging in order to try and get to the bottom of how clean us Brits actually are, and what some of our compatriots in other nations are like too. Take a look.
What does a clean house look like?
The modern home can be a whirlwind of noise, movement and mess - particularly for anybody with a busy family.
According to the folks at Good Housekeeping, in order to maintain a truly clean home, you need to:
- Wipe down your shower screen every day
- Scrub bathroom surfaces once a week
- Change your bedding once a week
- Vacuum your carpets once a week
- Mop Kitchen and bathroom once a week
- Clean your washing machine and dishwasher once a month
- Clean behind and under your furniture once every six months
This all leads us, rather seamlessly, on to the next topic…
Finding time
With so many cleaning tasks to be done and people working longer hours, it can sometimes feel like there’s not enough hours in the day.
If you feel like this, don’t worry - you are certainly not alone.
An article published in The Telegraph earlier this year highlighted the fact that 57% of Britons would describe their home as a ‘pigsty’ because they never have the chance to clean it up.
In a separate survey from Beko, less than half of people in the UK set time aside for domestic cleaning chores each with, while 45% believe that previous generations had more time to commit to household chores than people today.
This all means that homes up and down the country aren’t reaching the desired levels of cleanliness that their owners would like. It’s not a great situation, but it’s symptomatic of the crazy world we’re living in today where many of us struggle to find time to dedicate to such tasks seems to prove increasingly elusive.
What about other countries?
If this is the situation in the UK then, are we alone in having this difficult modern issue? Or is it more of a global problem?
According to research from Kaercher, 85% of respondents to their international cleaning survey said that having a clean house was important to them. But in terms of how often cleaning tasks were done in each country, it’s fair to say there was quite a bit of variance.
According to the findings, the Germans and the Japanese were guilty of cleaning the least of the six countries surveyed.
87% of Japanese people apparently spend less than 3 hours a week cleaning, while 67% of Germans devoted similarly little time to cleaning tasks.
Our friends across the Channel in France reportedly quite like cleaning. Only 35% of French respondents described housework as a necessary evil, while in total, 68% of respondents from other countries took this view.
The survey also found that the French are most likely to start cleaning tasks even when an area doesn’t really look like it needs it. That’s truly proactive cleaning!
Other types of cleanliness
Of course, keeping your house in order isn’t the only sign of cleanliness. How do us Brits fare in other cleaning areas?
Well, according to research from Day2 dry wash and published in The Express, the average UK person wears a t-shirt twice before washing it.
Younger generations are doing their bit for the environment by putting on an average of one wash a week, while older generations put on as many as three washes a week.
Incredibly, one in six Brits will actually buy a new t-shirt rather than wash one - it’s easier apparently!
And in terms of personal cleanliness, the Brits have actually been showering too much! According to YouGov, 49% of people in the UK shower every day, although dermatologists are actually saying that’s too frequent unless you’re doing regular exercise.
Interestingly, 3% of Brits shower one time a week, and 1% only shower once a month… the less said about that, the better.
Tackling the cleaning crisis
What can we do to set aside time to keep our homes in order and keep that ‘castle’ of ours looking pristine?
Well, modern technology is doing its part. There’s been a rise in the appearance of self-cleaning home appliances coming to the fore, which can help take some of the cleaning tasks off your to-do list.
Self cleaning ovens, litter boxes and toilet bowls are all out there today and ready to be bought.
Having a vacuum cleaner that’s truly manoeuvrable and easy to use can make a big difference to your cleaning habits. Cordless vacuums and handheld vacuum cleaners for example can take many minutes off your cleaning job, while stick vacuum cleaners can help get you into every nook and cranny in your home.
And why not try creating a household chore list? This way, everybody living under your roof can chip in and provide a helping hand when it comes to keeping your home cleaning. This guide from Care.com can prove very valuable.
Hopefully this blog has shed some light on the British cleaning traits. If you’re interested in any of the Vytronix range to help you keep your home in order, be sure to browse through the whole range of Vytronix products.